The maker of cameras used by surfers, skiers and sky divers
to record their exploits, filed for a U.S. initial public offering,
it said today. The company, based in San Mateo, California, didn’t
provide details of the offering.

GoPro is working with JPMorgan Chase & Co. on the IPO,
according to two people with knowledge of the matter. The
company had close to $1 billion in sales last year and plans the
listing in May or June, one of the people said, asking not to be
identified discussing confidential information. The Jumpstart
Our Business Startups, or Jobs, Act allows companies with less
than $1 billion in annual revenue to file for IPOs
confidentially with U.S. regulators.

Started in 2002 by Nicholas Woodman, who is chief executive
officer, GoPro initially had one camera style that sold for
$19.99 in surf shops around California. GoPro now sells four
camera styles worldwide that range in price from $200 to $400,
as well as a range of mounts and accessories. The company’s
YouTube channel has 1.6 million subscribers and has had more
than 400 million views. GoPro had 2012 sales of $521 million,
Woodman told Forbes magazine last March.

A representative for GoPro didn’t respond to a request for
comment. A spokesman for JPMorgan declined to comment on the IPO
plan.

Jobs Act

GoPro joins the ranks of microblogging service Twitter Inc.
and midprice hotel-chain La Quinta Holdings Inc., which utilized
the Jobs Act to file for IPOs confidentially and then publicized
their plans. At least seven technology companies have already
disclosed their plans to go public in the U.S. this year,
including IMS Health Holdings Inc., the health-care focused
information-technology company, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

GoPro cameras let action-sports enthusiasts take
professional-quality videos. In recent years, GoPro cameras have
expanded beyond the surf and sky-diving crowds and are used for
a variety of everyday and specialty applications. Fire
departments use them for training, marine biologists use them
for undersea research, and the U.S. Army uses them in tests of
the damage to Humvees from roadside bombs.

Media Company

The company plans to position itself with investors as a
media company as well as a hardware maker, according to one of
the people familiar with the situation. It produces many videos
about its customers and their exploits, such as one video of
environmentalist Kevin Richardson cavorting with wild lions
that has almost six million YouTube hits. One possibility is to
create cable channels or shows, the person said. The company
thinks the media business has the potential to bring in more
profits than the cameras over the long term, the person said.

In a 2011 video posted to the company’s website, CEO
Woodman said, “To see that amount of communication between
people around the world, and that they’re doing it with our
camera as the enabling device--that’s way bigger than setting
out to make a wrist camera for surfing and it’s way bigger than
being a ‘rad brand.’ It’s helping people communicate.”

GoPro recently extended into software and offers a free
video-editing program and phone apps to control cameras
remotely.